Blog

The church in North America is shrinking. People are leaving. People are identifying as religious “nones.” Church doors are closing.

But as we learned during the COVID-19 crises, church matters. The community church provides makes a difference within and without the four walls of a building.

“Church is a living illustration or picture of an alternative life—one that is focused on following Jesus and his ways,” said Kevin DeRaaf, who directs ministry in North America for Resonate Global Mission. 

Nick In’t Hout was walking up and down the streets of Redlands, California, and praying about planting a church—but then he heard the Holy Spirit tell him that Redlands didn’t need another church. The city needed churches to work together.

“One of the things God impressed on me on that walk was just the number of churches up and down Church Street,” said Nick. “I felt like the Lord was saying to me he didn’t need another church—but the invitation was to be part of his work connecting churches and bringing them together.”

Mission Montréal, a Resonate Global Mission partner, is meeting needs in the city during the coronavirus pandemic by packing and delivering food baskets—and it’s taking a network to make it possible.

When the coronavirus hit, universities in Montréal shut down and university students found themselves facing a lot of challenges—especially international students.

“They were living with a lot of stress and anxiety and were very isolated,” said Jacynthe Vaillancourt, who leads campus ministry for Mission Montréal.

I've been fascinated with the word resilience. I even like the way it’s pronounced. While it may sound silly to native English speakers, for an ESL student, it can be exotic. For example, try to say Feliz Navidad. Beautiful and exquisite, right? Resilience may not compete in significance with other famous words in the Bible like love, peace, and grace—but resilience has been, and continues to be, at the heart of ministry today.